Harnessing strong metal-support interactions via a reverse route.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32546680.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-16674-y and PMC identifier 7297808.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Engineering strong metal-support interactions (SMSI) is an effective strategy for tuning structures and performances of supported metal catalysts but induces poor exposure of active sites. Here, we demonstrate a strong metal-support interaction via a reverse route (SMSIR) by starting from the final morphology of SMSI (fully-encapsulated core-shell structure) to obtain the intermediate state with desirable exposure of metal sites. Using core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) as a building block, the Pd-FeO<sub>x</sub> NPs are transformed into a porous yolk-shell structure along with the formation of SMSIR upon treatment under a reductive atmosphere. The final structure, denoted as Pd-Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>-H, exhibits excellent catalytic performance in semi-hydrogenation of acetylene with 100% conversion and 85.1% selectivity to ethylene at 80 °C. Detailed electron microscopic and spectroscopic experiments coupled with computational modeling demonstrate that the compelling performance stems from the SMSIR, favoring the formation of surface hydrogen on Pd instead of hydride.